One Body, Two Minds
by Russell Scottie
Summary: I am Hawkstorm and I'm Sweetwhisker. I am a tom and I'm a she-cat. I am one as well as the other. Which side of me you get cannot be clarified. (Adopted from Kira-QueenOfDarkness)
1. Chapter 1

**First story I've adopted, so lets see how this works out. By the way, I've adopted this from Kira-QueenOfDarkness. Thank you Kira for letting me adopt this.**

**Anyways, allegiances, I'm going to try something a bit different then what I've done before. If there's a big change in it the chapter before, the next chapter will have an updated allegiances before the chapter starts. Or if there will be new characters or whatever, they will listed before the chapter starts. Well, something like that.**

**So yeah, chapter one, ****though it's more like a prologue, ****is below.**

**- x – x- x-**

**Leader:** Badgerstar – black and white tom with one blue and one copper eye

**Deputy:** Ashstorm – blue-gray tabby she-cat with yellow eyes (Apprentice: Firepaw)

**Medicine cat**: Cedarwhisker – chestnut-brown tom with orange eyes

**Warriors:** Amberheart – tortoiseshell she-cat with pale orange eyes

Adderfang – black and white tom with blue eyes

Whitestep – white she-cat with black specks and blue eyes (Apprentice: Redpaw)

Swiftstorm – dilute calico she-cat with green eyes

Rowanwhisker – pale brown tabby tom with pale copper eyes

Owlflight – brown tabby tom with hazel eyes (Apprentice: Rainpaw)

Nightclaw – black tom with white tail tip and green eyes

Mistfeather – blue mink she-cat with blue-green eyes

Bluefang – blue lynx point tom with dark blue eyes

**Queens:** Cloudstep – pale silver tabby she-cat with hazel eyes (had Nightclaw's kit: Breezekit – black tabby she-cat with hazel eyes)

Fawnheart – fawn tabby she-cat with pale yellow eyes (had Owlflight's kits: Hawkkit – fawn tabby tom with white paws, belly, and chest, golden eyes; Stagkit – pale brown tabby with yellow eyes)

**Apprentices:** Firepaw – red smoke she-cat with yellow eyes

Redpaw – dark red tabby tom with white patches and hazel eyes

Rainpaw – blue smoke tom with golden eyes

**Elders:** Sagefeather – pale cream tabby she-cat with green eyes, former medicine cat

Hawkflight – dark brown tabby and white tom with golden eyes, blind and former deputy

Appleheart – flame sepia she-cat with pale green eyes

**- x – x- x –**

Sunlight sliced through the treetops, warming the camp up from the chill that still lingered from last night. Fawnheart and Owlflight basked in a sunny part of camp, sharing tongues while they lazily watched their two kits play.

One of the kits, a pale brown tabby, stopped playing with his sibling and padded over to his parents.

"What's the matter, Stagkit? Are you getting tired?" Fawnheart asked as her son plopped down in front of them.

"Hawkkit is being weird," the young tom meowed, scrunching up his face as he thought of his sibling's odd behavior.

"What do you mean?" Owlflight asked.

"He's acting strange and calling himself Sweetkit," the kit grumbled.

"Sweetkit?" Fawnheart mewed in confusion.

"Are you sure that's what Hawkkit said?" Owlflight asked as he got to his paws and turning his gaze from Stagkit to his other son. Hawkkit was where his brother had left him, playing with a moss ball by himself.

Stagkit nodded his head. "Is there something wrong with him?" he asked, his voice turning worried at his parents' reactions. "Is Hawkkit sick?"

"I'm sure he's not," the tabby tom mewed as he padded over to Hawkkit, who was still playing with a moss ball.

Fawnheart got up and followed her mate, Stagkit at her side. When the three made it over to the kit, he stopped playing and looked up at his family.

"Did I do something wrong?" the kit asked in small voice as he stared up at his parents.

"You aren't in trouble," Fawnheart said as she came to stand at his side, her tail resting on her son's shoulder. "Stagkit has told us that you were behaving oddly and calling yourself Sweetkit. We wanted to know if you were feeling okay, Hawkkit."

The kit sat down with a small huff. "That's because I'm Sweetkit, not Hawkkit," the kit explained.

"This is not a fun game that you are playing, Hawkkit," the queen told the kit. "You have upset your brother. Stop this game and apologize to your brother."

"But I'm not playing a game," the tabby kit meowed, started to look upset. "I'm really Sweetkit. Hawkkit's not here, it's my turn to play."

Owlflight and Fawnheart exchanged worried glances. Stagkit shuffled his paws, looking worried and unsure what to do. "I'll go get Cedarwhisker. He might have an idea about what is going on," Owlflight meowed before headed off in the direction of the medicine cat's den.

"Why is father getting the medicine cat? I'm not sick," the kit calling himself Sweetkit said, looking slightly alarmed.

"We're just worried about you, Hawkkit," the she-cat said as she watched her mate disappear into the medicine cat's den.

Sweetkit's fur bristled slightly, getting annoyed with trying to correct everyone. Before the kit could try to correct Fawnheart, Owlflight came out of the medicine cat's den with a brown tom.

"Owlflight has informed me of the situation," the brown tom mewed as the two toms reached the others. He then turned his attention to Sweetkit and started to look the kit over. "Have you hit your head recently?" he asked in a gentle voice.

"No, Cedarwhisker," Sweetkit grumbled. "I didn't hurt myself and I'm not sick. They just refuse to see that I'm Sweetkit, not Hawkkit."

Cedarwhisker blinked his orange eyes before asking, "What is your gender, Sweetkit?"

"I'm a she-cat obviously," the tabby kit said, rolling her golden eyes. Pausing before adding in as an afterthought, "Hawkkit's the tom."

Fawnheart and Owlflight gasped at what their kit said, shock and confusion spilling across their faces. Stagkit, who was still there, looked mildly interested in what was going on with his sibling, but mainly looked bored out of his mind.

The medicine cat flicked his tail to silence the parents before they could say anything. "And where is Hawkkit?"

"Not here right now," was all Sweetkit said.

Cedarwhisker turned to the queen and warrior and said, "I've never seen or heard of anything like this. I want to speak to Sagefeather, she might know." Sagefeather had been his mentor and had recently retired to the elder's den.

Owlflight and Fawnheart nodded and the whole group made their way over to the elder's den. Two of the three elders were basking in the sunlight; the third was nowhere to be seen. A pale cream tabby she-cat looked up when she saw them coming and whispered something to the dark brown tabby tom that was dozing next to her.

The tabby tom blinked his blind golden eyes open. "How's the happy family? I hope my grandkits aren't getting into too much trouble," the tom meowed.

"We came to speak to Sagefeather, Hawkflight," Owlflight told the tom. "Something is wrong with Hawkkit." Hawkflight was Owlflight's father and had been deputy before he was blinded and had to retire just before the kits were born. Hawkkit had been named in honor of him.

Sweetkit opened her mouth to correct her father, but Fawnheart shushed her. Annoyed, she and Stagkit went over to Hawkflight as Cedarwhisker explained the situation to his former mentor. The former deputy flicked his tail around, letting the kits chase after it, as he listened in.

"I'm sorry, but I've never heard anything like this," Sagefeather admitted after she heard everything. "I suggest we wait and see what will happen. Perhaps Hawkkit will grow out of it."

Hawkflight continued to flick his tail around, but then spoke, "Sweetkit, correct?"

Sweetkit stopped playing and looked up at her grandfather. "Yes!" she squeaked, "Thank you for not confusing me with Hawkkit." Her brother, meanwhile, continued going after the elder's tail.

"I wouldn't do such a thing," the blind tom meowed to the kit. "Do you know when Hawkkit will turn up?"

Sweetkit looked thoughtful, but then narrowed her golden eyes. "Why are you asking? Do you like Hawkkit more than me?"

"No, nothing like that. I was just curious, little one," Hawkflight murmured softly.

Sweetkit blinked. "Oh, okay!" she meowed in relieved surprise. "I'm not sure. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Thank you for letting me know, Sweetkit," the elder replied.

"Father," Owlflight meowed, having caught the last part of the conversation. "What are you doing?"

Hawkflight turned in the direction of his son. "Talking to my grandkit," he told him. "I believe StarClan must have created Hawkkit and Sweetkit like this and we should respect that."

"I think he might be right," Cedarwhisker said, speaking up. "This could be StarClan's work."

"I still say we wait and see," Sagefeather mewed, licking a paw.

"I don't know," Owlflight murmured. He turned to his mate and asked, "What do you think?"

"There must be something wrong with him! StarClan would not do something like this!" Fawnheart wailed softly, voiced filled with worry and an edge of desperation.

"Hey Sweetkit! I bet you're slower than Hawkkit and can't catch me!" Stagkit taunted, having finished playing with the elder's tom and bored with the adult cats' conversation. He then bolted off, racing toward the other side of the camp.

"No fair!" Sweetkit yowled as she took off after her brother.

**- x – x – x -**

**Chapter one DONE!**

**Anyways, every chapter after this should be in either Sweet or little Hawk's POV. I'll try not to dwell too long on the kit and apprentice moons; as more interesting things will happen when they are warriors.**

**I hope you enjoyed!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Adopted from Kira-QueenOfDarkness. Once again, thank you Kira for allowing me to adopt this.**

**Sorry it took so long for this update, but to make it up to you guys, this chapter is about 2 thousand words long.**

**- x – x – x -**

"Hey Breezekit," Hawkkit meowed as he padded up to the black tabby she-cat, Stagkit hanging back. She was the only other kit in the nursery and was about two moons older than the two brothers.

The older kit turned to look at the brothers, her hazel eyes warily landing on Hawkkit. "Erm, Sweetkit?" she guessed with hesitance.

"No, it's Hawkkit," he said. He knew she had trouble telling him and Sweetkit apart, but he usually didn't mind correcting others, unlike Sweetkit.

"Oh, hello Hawkkit," Breezekit meowed, relaxing a bit now that she knew who she was talking to. "What did you want?"

"Stagkit and I were going to go over to the elders and ask for a story. I wanted to know if you wanted to come along," Hawkkit told her.

"Sorry, but Firepaw promised me that she'd teach me some fighting moves. Maybe another time," the black she-cat meowed before padded toward the apprentice's den. All three apprentices were outside and enjoying some fresh-kill.

Stagkit padded up to his brother. "I told you she wouldn't come," he grumbled. "Now come on before the elders decide to take a nap."

"O-okay," Hawkkit mewed as he followed the other tom over toward the elder's den.

Hawkflight was lying outside the elder's den with Appleheart, the two sharing tongues. Sagefeather was out with Cedarwhisker, helping him look for herbs and probably pestering him about how he was doing his job as a medicine cat and how she thinks he could do it better.

Appleheart looked up and saw the kits heading over and called out a greeting, "Hello, kits!"

The blind tom twitched an ear and meowed, "Hawkkit, Stagkit, nice of you two to come visit us old cats."

The she-cat batted playfully at the tabby. "We're not that old. We're mature and sensible," she corrected with a light purr.

"Try telling yourself that when your bones creak the next time it rains," Hawkflight shot back with a snort.

"My bones don't creak!" the old she-cat shrieked, glaring her pale green eyes at the sightless tom.

"Ahum," Hawkkit cleared his throat to get the bickering elders' attention. Stagkit looked bored out of his mind and was staring up at the clouds lazily drifting by, his tail tip flicking occasionally.

"Right, sorry," Hawkflight coughed with embarrassment. "Appleheart has a tendency to get carried away with things, she has been that way ever since she joined the Clan."

"I do not!" the she-cat huffed, tail flicking with annoyance.

"Appleheart isn't Clanborn?" Stagkit asked, shock and curiosity filling his voice. The elders had his full attention now.

Appleheart blinked and meowed calmly, "I was not born in the Clan. I was born a kittypet and I joined the Clan with my brother when I was young. I'm sure you two have heard his name; he was Ashstorm's mate."

Stagkit looked stumped as he tried to remember the name he was sure he heard before.

Hesitantly Hawkkit spoke up, asking in an unsure voice, "Was his name Icefrost?"

"Close enough," the red furred elder said. "His name was Smokefrost."

"Was Rainpaw a kittypet?" Stagkit suddenly said. "Is that why he looks sad?"

Hawkkit blinked at what his brother said and scanned the camp. He saw over by one side of the apprentice's den, Redpaw and Firepaw were teaching Breezekit a battle move. On the other side, Rainpaw sat alone, staring at the ground with a sad expression on his face. Hawkkit had always thought Rainpaw liked being alone and so never thought too much of the young apprentice. But maybe there really was a different reason for Rainpaw to distance himself from the others? Or was it the other way around; cats distancing themselves from Rainpaw? But Appleheart was popular in the Clan and from what he remembered what others said, her brother was as well.

"You are correct that Rainpaw was also a kittypet," Hawkflight said. "But that's not the reason for his sadness. Appleheart, Rainpaw is your nephew right?"

"He's actually my niece's son, so my grandnephew," Appleheart corrected. "And Rainpaw's reason to be sad has to do with his life before he came to the Clan and also how he got here."

Hawkkit turned his gaze back to the elders and asked, "What happened?"

"It would be best if I begin this story all the way at the beginning," the old she-cat meowed. "Smokefrost and I were born to kittypet parents, alongside our sister, Silver. We were very adventurous when we were young and were always wandering away from our twoleg's nest. One day we had gone into the forest, even though Silver was reluctant to go. And there we ran into a patrol that your grandfather was part of."

Hawkflight let out a merrow of laughter. "I remember that," he chuckled. "You wanted to fight me, but your brother held you back."

"And I would have sent you running with your tail between your legs if my brother hadn't held me back," she shot back, sending a glare toward the old tom. Appleheart turned back to the kits and resumed her story, "Anyways, the patrol made us return to Twoleg Place, but they did tell us about Clan life before we left. Smokefrost and I had always been drawn to the forest and the idea of living in a Clan had fascinated us. Silver, however, wanted nothing to do with the forest and would always try to change the subject whenever it or the Clan was brought up. Smokefrost and I quickly made up our minds, we wanted to leave Twoleg Place and join the Clan. Silver tried to convince us to not leave, but we did in the end."

"Why was Silver so against the forest?" Stagkit asked, tilting his head to the side in confusion.

The red furred she-cat sighed, "I'm not sure, little one, she was always like that. We had tried to tell her about how great Clan life was after we joined the Clan and became apprentices, but it only seemed to upset her more."

"Where does Rainpaw come in?" Hawkkit asked, wondering when the apprentice comes into the story.

"I'm getting there, Hawkkit," Appleheart told him. "Smokefrost and I lost touch with our sister a couple moons after we joined the Clan. Many seasons had past before we heard anything else from our kin in Twoleg Place. It happened when greencough plagued the Clan, not too long before you two were born. My daughter, Amberheart, and her kits were sick with it and Smokefrost's kits, Bluefang and Mistfeather were about to become warriors."

Hawkflight's sightless golden eyes darkened in memory. "I lost my mate to that bout of greencough," he murmured in saddness.

Appleheart placed her tail on the old tom's side in silent comfort before continuing her tale, "Smokefrost had taken me for a walk out in the forest, trying to distract me from my worrying when we ran into a kittypet. The kittypet looked like our sister and had been searching the forest for us. She told us that her name was Snow and that she was Silver's daughter. Snow began asking, begging, us for help; she was in a bad situation in Twoleg Place and was requesting that we take her and her young kit in. At the time, we had no idea what was going on with her and so we didn't think it was so bad. Smokefrost agreed however to meet Snow in a couple of days and bring her and her kit to the Clan…"

The elder had trailed off and had a far away look in her eyes as she recalled what happened next. "Do you want me to finish the story?" Hawkflight asked, his voice soft and quiet.

She nodded and meowed, "For this part, at least."

The tabby tom nodded before turning his attention back on the two kits, both of who were waiting for the story to continue. "Right, so on the day of the planned meeting Amberheart had taken a turn for the worst and Appleheart decided to stay to be with her. In her place, I went with Smokefrost to the meeting spot, but no one showed up. Smokefrost began to get worried as it was getting later and later with no sign of Snow or her kit, so he decided to go into Twoleg Place to look for her. I stayed behind at the meeting spot as I was thinking that Snow had decided not to show up, but I had been wrong. I was about to go into Twoleg Place to look for Smokefrost as it was getting even later, when he came crashing through the forest with a small kit in his mouth and a large tom on his tail. Soon Smokefrost and I were in a fight with the large tom and it was a fierce battle. It seemed as if the battle had lasted for moons when the large tom finally fled with fatal wounds. But we were not without wounds ourselves…"

"Was this…?" Hawkkit spoke up in a whisper, staring into his grandfather's sightless eyes. "Was this the fight where you lost your sight?"

Hawkflight nodded, "Yes, it was. The tom had scratched my eyes badly and had given Smokefrost some deep wounds. We managed to make it back to camp with the kit and Smokefrost told us what happened. He had found Snow in Twoleg Place; she had been backed into a corner by the tom and was trying to protect her kit. Smokefrost tried to save her, but the tom killed her and would have killed the kit too if Smokefrost hadn't been there. Smokefrost soon died of his wounds and I was told that my sight could not be saved…"

"So, that kit was Rainpaw?" Stagkit asked.

"Yes, that was Rainpaw," Appleheart meowed. "He refused to tell us about his life before Smokefrost rescued him and if he knew who that tom was. But that is in the past and if he decides to never tell anyone, we should respect his decision."

Hawkkit turned his gaze back over to the apprentice's den. Breezekit, Firepaw, and Redpaw were gone, but Rainpaw was still there, sitting exactly where he saw the apprentice earlier. Rainpaw suddenly looked up from looking at the ground, his golden eyes locking onto Hawkkit's. The young tabby tom froze, but held the apprentice's gaze.

"But Rainpaw is our Clanmate now and Clanmates should never keep secrets from each other!" Stagkit protested as he stood up.

"No, Stagkit," Hawkheart murmured softly. "Every cat has a right to keep their secrets, even cats in a Clan can have secrets as long as they don't harm their Clan."

"That doesn't make sense, a Clan shouldn't keep secrets from each other," Stagkit grumbled as he plopped back down.

"One day you will learn that secrets can be good to keep too, young one," Appleheart told him.

_I never really see him with anyone, _Hawkkit thought. _Maybe he just needs a friend. _The tabby tom got to his paws and started to walk over to the lonely apprentice.

"Rainpaw!"

Hawkkit froze at the sound of his father's voice. He looked toward the sound and saw Owlflight at the entrance to camp with Nightclaw, Mistfeather, and Rowanwhisker. Owlflight beckoned the young blue furred tom to join them and Rainpaw quickly scrambled to his paws and nearly tripped over his own paws on his way over to the patrol. The five cats then left the camp, Rainpaw trailing behind the four warriors.

Realization suddenly stuck the kit. _How could I forget that Rainpaw is my father's apprentice!_

"Hawkkit!" Stagkit called.

The tabby kit turned around to see his brother standing by their mother near the nursery. He looked to see the elders were beginning to head into their den and wondered long he was watching Rainpaw.

"Hawkkit, time to go back inside the nursery!" Fawnheart meowed, but her attention was focused on trying to corral her other son into the den.

"Coming!" Hawkkit called as he dashed over to the nursery.

**- x – x – x - **

**Not too much happened in this chapter, but it has information that needed to be told for the story. There'll probably be maybe one more chapter of kithood and then we'll be onto apprenticeship.**

**When I first adopted this story, I came up with just about all the background stories and relationships for the cats in this story. But writing this chapter I see that Appleheart and Hawkflight are just so ****_cute _****together. Is it too late to pair them together?**

**Also I just realized that I never stated what Clan this is. Whoops.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Adopted from Kira-QueenOfDarkness.**

**New chapter! And only like a week after the last one. :D We're back with Sweetkit in this one and we got stuff happening! Also I decided that the Clan is ShadowClan.**

**- x – x – x - **

Crouching low to the ground, Sweetkit slowly stalked around the apprentices' den. Peeking around the edge of the den, she saw an apprentice sitting next to the den with his back towards her, tail twitching occasionally. The tabby kit took a second to prepare her pounce before kicking out with long rear legs, soaring the small distance in the air before her front paws landed on the apprentice's tail.

The small smoky blue-grey tom leapt nearly a fox-length in the air with a short yowl of surprise, fur fluffing up. He whirled around and stared at the kit with large golden eyes. "Wh-why did you do that?" he asked, his voice while quiet held his shock with a touch of uncertainty.

Sweetkit fell back into a sitting position as she laughed, "You should have seen yourself, Rainpaw! You looked as if a fox had pounced on you!"

Rainpaw scanned the kit, unease clear in his body as he willed his fur to lay flat. "Who are you?" he asked, caution clear in his voice.

The kit was about to snap at him, tired of cats who couldn't tell her apart from Hawkkit or cats that refused to acknowledge her as Sweetkit, but paused as she remembered that the apprentice never really interacted with the kits in the nursery. _Maybe he just doesn't know? _She thought as she stared back at the tom before deciding. She spoke up, making her voice sound demanding and filled with authority, "My name is Sweetkit and you are taking me to explore the forest."

The tom blinked, taken aback by the kit's response. "Erm, Sweetkit, kits aren't allowed outside of camp. You should know that," he mewed, while his voice lost his caution, it wasn't filled with confidence.

"Your mentor is my father and he says that you can take me out into the forest," Sweetkit said, confidence overflowing as she wondered if she could get him to do what she wanted.

"I-I know who your father is, but it's still not allowed," Rainpaw murmured as he diverted his eyes and shuffled his paws.

Sweetkit huffed as she began to think she wasn't going to get her way. "Stagkit probably has gotten Firepaw to take him out of camp already," she grumbled, starting to claw at the ground in annoyance.

"You think Firepaw did?" He asked, his eyes darting back to the kit. "Th-then I'll take you out to the forest."

The she-kit blinked back her shock before purring, getting to her paws and starting off toward the camp's entrance. "Great! Lets go, there's several places I want to see before sunhigh!" she exclaimed.

"Wait!" Rainpaw called out to her. He then appeared to flinch at the increase in volume he used to call to her. "We can't go that way, we'll get caught," he told Sweetkit in a quieter voice.

"Oh, right! Lead the way, o' wise apprentice," Sweetkit meowed as she turned around and padded back toward him.

"This way," he whispered as he turned and walked behind the apprentices' den. The blue furred tom padded up to a part in the camp wall and pushed through a small opening that was there, slipping through it and the wall shifted back into place.

"Wow! I didn't know this was here," she exclaimed as she tried to be quiet and followed the apprentice.

As Sweetkit pushed her way through and saw the outside of camp, she let out a soundless gasp. She looked around with wide eyes at the large pines that towered over them, nearly completely blocking out the sun. She watched as a little bird flew through the high treetops and landed on a nearby branch.

"W-where do you want to go?" Rainpaw stuttered as he kept looking around as if expecting their Clanmates to pop out and yell at them.

The tabby kit jerked her head back toward the tom as she suddenly remembered that he was there too. "The Hawk Tree!" she mewed with a hop of excitement.

The Hawk Tree was a tree that was named that fairly recently in the Clan's history, but the story behind the naming was one of Sweetkit's favorite. When Sweetkit's grandfather was just an apprentice, a hawk had taken up residence in a tree on ShadowClan's territory and was terrorizing the Clan. The hawk would attack cats; sometimes succeeding in carrying off a Clanmate, stole prey, and made hunting difficult for the Clan. Hawkflight, who had been Hawkpaw at the time, was tired of the hawk bothering his Clan so he and Appleheart, Applepaw at the time, came up with a plan to get rid of it. The two apprentices attacked the hawk and during their fight, the hawk grabbed Hawkpaw and it was going to fly off with him. By then a patrol had been alerted by the sounds and as they made it, Hawkpaw freed himself from the hawk's claws. With the patrol's help, Hawkpaw and Applepaw killed the hawk. The two apprentices were punished for doing something so reckless, but for their act of bravery and killing the danger that threatened their Clan, they received their warrior names. Hawkpaw earning the name Hawkflight due to the small flight the hawk took him on. And the Clan has continued to call the tree the hawk had taken residence in the Hawk Tree even though no hawk has lived in it since that hawk was killed.

"I should have guessed," Rainpaw murmured as he began to head for the Hawk Tree. "It's this way, Sweetkit."

"Coming!" Sweetkit called as she took off after him, nearly tripping over a tree root as she did so.

The two walked through the forest in near silence. Sweetkit would sometimes slow as she looked all around in amazement and then have to run to keep up with the apprentice turned guide. She had no idea that their Clan's territory was so big before and everything caught her attention. She wanted to take her time to see it all, but she also didn't want to be accidently left behind.

"We're nearly there," Rainpaw meowed as the trees began to thin out.

She almost didn't hear him but managed to make a sound of acknowledgement as she looked at the trees. The trees weren't pines anymore; they were a mixture of oaks and maples, they grew further apart and where thicker and taller than the pines. These trees were bare or nearly bare of leaves, their leaves having fallen to the ground, as it was leaf-bare.

"Sweetkit, this is the Hawk Tree," the apprentice called from where he had stopped in front of one of the tallest and thickest oak trees.

Sweetkit realized she had stopped walking and padded over to join him, staring up at the large tree in awe. On one of the high branches, she spotted the remains of a huge nest, old and misshapen. "What is that?" she asked breathless at the sight.

The blue-furred tom looked up and saw what she was asking about. "That was the hawk's nest. The rest of it will probably get blown down soon, especially if we get some strong storms," he informed her.

As she stared up at the nest, she spotted something poking out of it. She blinked as she recognized it before taking a massive leap at the tree. Her small claws sank into the bark and she began trying to scramble her way up.

"Swe-Sweetkit! What are you doing!?" Rainpaw shouted in alarm, his voice trembling.

"I'm going to get that feather and give it to Hawkflight," she said through gritted her teeth. She scrambled up a tail-length more, but her claws began to slip and she slid down the tree, losing the progress she had made.

"Do you really want that feather?" he asked skeptically as he looked up and measured the distance of the nest to the ground. "It's a long fall."

"Yes!" Sweetkit exclaimed, frustration entering her voice. "Hawkflight should have it!" She slid the rest of the way down the tree and landed on her hind end.

"A-alright, I'll do it," Rainpaw mewed in a hesitant whisper as he looked at the path up the tree to the nest.

"Really?" Sweetkit asked, turning to look at the young apprentice with excitement in her eyes.

The blue-furred tom nodded before making a large flying leap at the tree. He sunk his claws in the bark and quickly scurried his way up to the lowest tree branch. He then began to jump from tree branch to tree branch, up the tall tree.

"Wow, you're like a squirrel, Rainpaw!" the kit exclaimed in excitement as she watched the tom.

Rainpaw startled at the sound sudden sound of Sweetkit's voice as he pushed off one branch, his front paws landed on the next branch but his back ones hung in the air, flailing.

"Rainpaw!" Sweetkit shouted in alarm, fearful that he may fall. He was really far up, not too far from the old nest now and she had just realized just how far he was from the forest floor. "Don't fall!"

The apprentice grunted as he just managed to pull himself up onto the branch. He took a moment to calm himself before taking his next jump. Pretty quickly he was finally at the nest. Rainpaw picked up the large feather that was lodged in a part of the nest, some of the old nest falling to the ground as it was disturbed. He looked around to see if there was another, but didn't see any. He turned and began his decent down the tree, feather held tightly in his jaws.

Sweetkit hopped up and down in silent joy, careful not to say anything, as she didn't want to startle him again. As he made it just over halfway down, she began to pace back and forth, eager to see the feather.

"What are you doing!?" a cat yowled as a patrol burst through the undergrowth.

The kit turned toward the patrol and saw it was made up of Adderfang, Nightclaw, and Rownwhisker. Adderfang and Nightclaw looked angry, but they always seemed to look that way to Sweetkit. She still wondered how Adderfang was once Appleheart's mate.

"Rainpaw!" Rownwhisker shouted, his voice was filled with fear and his pale copper eyes wide in horror.

Sweetkit whipped around to see Rainpaw fall, feather slipping out of his mouth. He hit the ground at the base of the Hawk Tree with a heart-stopping thud, the feather landed gently near him. The apprentice did not move.

"No!" she cried as she raced to him, the three warriors at her tail. She fell on him as she wailed, "Rainpaw, Rainpaw, RAINPAW!"

Rownwhisker looked over the apprentice; he didn't look too bad for falling out of a tree. He didn't see any noticeable breaks, but his front right leg had a pretty nasty looking cut on it. He was no medicine cat, that was his brother, but he knew a long, hard fall might cause more internal wounds than outer. And the most worrying part was that the apprentice was not moving or making any sounds. He place a paw lightly on Rainpaw's neck and waited with baited breathe for a pulse.

Adderfang was having a hissing fit, yelling at Sweetkit, "What were you thinking? You, a silly little kit, and him, a stupid apprentice? You shouldn't even be out of camp!"

"And now we have a dead apprentice to lug back to camp!" Nightclaw added, glaring at the kit.

"He's not dead!" Rowanwhisker shouted with surprised and shock. "We have to get him to Cedarwhisker!"

"What!?" Adderfang and Nightclaw exclaimed, turning to their fellow warrior.

"Rainpaw is still alive!" he told the larger warriors. "We have to act fast, he is very weak. You two take him, I'll take Owlflight's kit."

Adderfang and Nightclaw nodded and picked up the apprentice, beginning the trek back to camp. Adderfang was heard grumbling about being ordered around by a younger cat as they walked away.

"Come on, kit," Rowanwhisker meowed gently to Sweetkit. "Cedarwhisker will take good care of Rainpaw. Now lets get you back to camp as well, your parents must be worried sick over you going missing."

"But Rownwhisker, Rainpaw might die! And it would be all my fault! If only I never got him to take me out of camp," Sweetkit wailed as she watched Adderfang and Nightclaw disappear into the undergrowth with Rainpaw.

"Calm down, I'm sure Rainpaw will be all right," the pale brown tabby mewed, trying to comfort her. "Now let's go home." He leaned down to grab her by her scruff.

Out of the corner of her eye, Sweetkit spotted the feather that Rainpaw worked so hard to get for her. She just barely managed to grab it before Rowanwhisker picked her up.

The trip back to camp was a quiet one and the tabby kit barely noticed anything as her thoughts were on Rainpaw. She was silently begging StarClan to let the apprentice live and was feeling awful that it was her fault that he might die.

When the two made it back to camp, Sweetkit saw Adderfang and Nightclaw existing the medicine cat's den and Sagefeather running as fast as her old legs could to the medicine cat's den. Owlflight ran right up to Rownwhisker, his face etched with worry.

"Where have you been, Sweetkit? I've been looking all over for you," Owlflight meowed. "You had your mother, brother, and I all worried sick over you." He turned to Rownwhisker. "Thank you for bringing my kit home."

Rowanwhisker put Sweetkit down and meowed, "No problem." The tabby tom then made his way over the leader's den, probably to talk to Badgerstar about what his patrol found.

"Come on, let's get you back to the nursery," her father said as he began to walk over there. "I should ask Badgerstar to delay your apprentice ceremony, but I'm sure he'll think of a appropriate punishment for you leaving camp."

Sweetkit followed her father, not saying anything. Her golden eyes kept drifting toward the medicine cat's den, her mind consumed with worry over Rainpaw. She hoped with every hair on her pelt that he was okay.

"Rowanwhisker and his patrol found Sweetkit," Owlflight informed his mate as they entered the nursery.

"What was Hawkkit doing out of camp?" Fawnheart asked, a hint of concern in her voice.

Sweetkt didn't bother correcting her mother this time; she was too worried over her new friend. Friend? Was Rainpaw her friend? Or was he just an apprentice that she lied to in order to get him to take her to the Hawk Tree? She was so consumed in her thoughts that she didn't hear the rest of her parents' conversation or Stagkit padding up to her side.

"What's that you got?" Stagkit asked, poking her with a paw as he stared at the large feather she had in her mouth.

She dropped the feather and stared at it. It was large and long, brown with thick black stripes. It wasn't beautiful like she had originally thought it would be; it was dull and rather raggedy-looking. "It's a feather that was in the Hawk Tree," her voice cracked with sadness.

"Wow! Did you climb the tree all by yourself?" Stagkit asked, his yellow eyes bright as he stared at the feather with fascination, not even noticing that Sweetkit was upset about something.

"No, Rainpaw climbed the tree for me and got it," Sweetkit told her brother, staring at the feather dully. "He fell when he was climbing down…"

"Rainpaw?" Stagkit asked shocked. He opened his mouth to say more.

"Stagkit, Hawkkit, Badgerstar has called a Clan meeting," Fawnheart called from the nursery's entrance. Owlflight was already gone. "I think it's Breezekit's apprentice ceremony."

Stagkit followed his mother out of the nursery, but looked back at Sweetkit, eyes silently asking if she'll come. She shook her head, she wanted to be alone for now and when her mother and brother left, she was.

She stared back at the feather. Rainpaw's life was not worth this feather, or any other feather, it was worth more. If he died getting her this feather, she would not be able to forgive herself.

Faintly through the nursery walls, she heard Badgerstar's voice call out, "Adderfang, you are ready to train a new apprentice. You have trained Nightclaw and Mistfeather and they are excellent warriors. You will be Breezepaw's mentor and I except you will pass all that you know onto her." The Clan cheering the new apprentice's name penetrated the den.

As the noise died down, Sweetkit mewed, "I wanted this feather to give to Hawkflight. I should give it to him, even if this feather causes Rainpaw's death." She picked up the feather and padded outside.

She made her way toward the elder's den where she saw Hawkflight and Appleheart still sitting outside it. As she walked, she heard Firepaw and Redpaw talking by the apprentices' den.

"Did you hear that Rainpaw climbed the Hawk Tree?" Redpaw asked his sister.

"Yeah. Maybe he's a Clan cat after all," Firepaw meowed in reply.

Sweetkit almost stopped and fled back to the nursery at hearing Rainpaw's name spoken, but stayed strong and continued walking to the elders.

"Hello Sweetkit," Hawkflight called as she got close. "What is that you got there?"

"How are you feeling, little one?" Appleheart chimed in. "We heard what happened."

Sweetkit dropped the feather and buried her face into Hawkflight's thick pelt. "It's all my fault!" she cried. "I had Rainpaw take me to the Hawk Tree and when I saw that feather I wanted to get it to give it to you. But I couldn't climb the tree, so Rainpaw did it for me, but he fell and now he may die because I wanted that stupid feather!"

"It's okay, Sweetkit," Hawkflight soothed. "Everything will be fine."

Appleheart stroked the kit's fur with her tail in a soothing fashion. "Sagefeather just told us that Rainpaw will be just fine. He'll be in the medicine cat's den for a while, but his life is in no danger."

The kit looked up and asked, "Really?"

"Yes," Hawkflight told her. "He'll be back to his apprentice duties in no time." He turned in the direction of the feather. He felt around for it for a bit before his paw found it and he brought it close. "And I thank you for this feather. It was very thoughtful of you wanting to get it for me. When you see Rainpaw, will you tell him thank you for me?"

Sweetkit looked at her grandfather and nodded. "I will," she meowed. "I am going to grow big and strong, strong enough to make sure Rainpaw will never get hurt again."

Hawkflight chuckled, "I'm sure you will, Sweetkit, I'm sure you will."

**- x – x – x - **

**Next chapter, I am thinking of going onto the apprenticeship. And it will also be back with Hawkkit. Also there will be some small changes in the allegiances.**


End file.
